Originally Posted - November 21, 2006

return home

NEW YORK---Barry Scheck, a member of the O.J. Simpson's defense team and co-founder of the Innocence Project, and his law firm, Cochran, Neufeld & Scheck, have agreed to pay $900,000 to settle a malpractice claim.

Scheck, a nationally recognized DNA expert who founded the Innocence Project in 1992 with his partner, Peter Neufeld, had been sued by a man wrongfully convicted of rape and imprisoned.

Lee Long, 46, had been convicted for a 1994 rape that occurred in Jackson Heights. Long was convicted based on identification by the victim but following a later investigation, it was learned that a police officer in the case had withheld evidence that corroborated Long's alibi.

Long's conviction was vacated in 2000 in the interest of justice and he subsequently engaged Scheck to sue the State of New York for wrongful conviction. He sought $3 million in compensatory and punitive damages as well as treble damages and attorney's fee's.

The Court of Appeals dismissed the claim in 2005. Long sued Scheck, alleging that he had missed a deadline in the case. The Court of Appeals found that while Scheck had timely filed the claim, it was dismissed because Scheck had signed the complaint in place of Long, apparently because Long no longer lives in the state.

Following the Court of Appeals ruling, both sides began negotiating a settlement. In addition to the $900,000 from Scheck, Long will also receive $50,000 from New York City to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit.

The Innocence Project at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law was set up as and remains a non-profit legal clinic. This project only handles cases where postconviction DNA testing of evidence can yield conclusive proof of innocence. As a clinic, students handle the case work while supervised by a team of attorneys and clinic staff. 11-21-06

© 2006 North Country Gazette